Soft and fluffy, high altitude hot cross muffins made with sweet raisins and warm spices, decorated with piped vanilla buttercream. If you love making hot cross buns for Easter, but don’t have time to let yeast dough rise, these spiced raisin muffins are a delicious alternative for the Easter holiday.
You might also love these Easter egg sugar cookies, carrot cake sheet cake, and no bake white chocolate coconut cheesecake.
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Why You’ll Love This Recipe
Easier than Hot Cross Buns. Hot cross buns are made from a soft and fluffy yeast dough, flavored with cozy spices and full of plump raisins. But bread rolls will take more time, since you’ll have to wait for the dough to rise. These hot cross muffins are quick and easy, with the batter coming together in just a few minutes before the muffins are ready to bake.
Perfect for Easter Dinner. The flavor of these muffins is delicious with baked ham, potatoes, and all the other traditional items on your Easter dinner menu. Or, just make them for Easter breakfast and serve them with orange marmalade or sweet apricot preserves.
High Altitude Tested. I develop all the recipes on my site for Denver’s altitude of 5,280 feet. If you’re at a lower or higher elevation, please see my FAQs for guidance on adjusting recipes for your altitude.
Ingredients
- Raisins. To add moisture to the raisins so they plump up and soften, be sure to soak them in the melted butter and warm milk mixture, before adding them to the muffin batter.
- Spices. A combination of cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg and vanilla adds flavor and warmth.
- Vanilla Buttercream. Traditionally, the X or cross on top of hot cross buns is made using a paste of flour and water. The paste is piped over the dough or batter before baking, and stays white in the oven while the rolls brown. I wanted to add a sweeter touch to these muffins, though, so after they had baked and cooled, I piped vanilla buttercream across their domed tops. You can pipe two intersecting lines to keep it simple, but I piped small “shells” to make mine more decorative.
Instructions
Muffins
- Preheat the oven to 400 F, and position a rack in the center of the oven. Line a 12-cup muffin pan with paper liners, and lightly spray the liners with non-stick baking spray.
- In a saucepan, combine the butter, milk and vanilla. Over medium heat, warm the liquid until the butter is melted and the milk is hot. Remove from the heat, stir in the raisins, and let sit for 10 minutes.
- In a bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, corn starch, baking soda, salt and spices.
- Add the eggs, oil and the raisin/butter/milk mixture, and whisk until combined.
- Divide the batter between the muffin cups, filling them nearly full.
- When you put the muffins in the oven, immediately turn the temperature down to 375 F. Bake the muffins for about 16-18 minutes, until a toothpick or cake tester comes out clean.
- Transfer the muffins to a cooling rack and cool completely before adding the frosting.
Frosting
- Make 1 recipe Vanilla Buttercream.
- Fit a disposable piping bag with a coupler and a small star tip, such as #18.
- Pipe a cross or X on top of the cooled muffins.
- Enjoy the muffins on their own, or serve them with orange marmalade or apricot preserves.
Be sure to read all of my BAKING FAQs where I discuss ingredients, substitutions and common baking questions, so that you can be successful in your own baking!
Frequently Asked Questions
Store leftover muffins in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 days. The muffins will be softest the day they’re baked. You can soften the leftovers by reheating them for 20-30 seconds at 50% power in the microwave, but this will melt the buttercream.
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High Altitude Hot Cross Muffins
All recipes on Curly Girl Kitchen are developed for high altitude at 5,280 feet. See FAQs for adjusting to higher or lower elevations.
Equipment
- Disposable Piping Bag (plus a coupler and tip #18, or a small star tip)
Ingredients
Muffins
- ½ cup unsalted butter
- 1 cup whole milk
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- ¾ cup raisins
- 1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour, fluffed, spooned and leveled
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 1 tbsp corn starch
- 1 tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp coarse Kosher salt (if using table salt, use half the amount)
- ¾ tsp ground cinnamon
- ½ tsp ground allspice
- ¼ tsp ground nutmeg
- 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
- 2 tbsp vegetable oil
Frosting
- 1 recipe Vanilla Buttercream
Instructions
Muffins
- Preheat the oven to 400 F, and position a rack in the center of the oven. Line a 12-cup muffin pan with paper liners, and lightly spray the liners with non-stick baking spray.
- In a saucepan, combine the butter, milk and vanilla. Over medium heat, warm the liquid until the butter is melted and the milk is hot. Remove from the heat, stir in the raisins, and let sit for 10 minutes.
- In a bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, corn starch, baking soda, salt and spices.
- Add the eggs, oil and the raisin/butter/milk mixture, and whisk until combined.
- Divide the batter between the muffin cups, filling them nearly full.
- When you put the muffins in the oven, immediately turn the temperature down to 375 F. Bake the muffins for about 16-18 minutes, until a toothpick or cake tester comes out clean.
- Transfer the muffins to a cooling rack and cool completely before adding the frosting.
Frosting
- Fit a disposable piping bag with a coupler and a small star tip, such as #18.
- Pipe a cross or X on top of the cooled muffins.
- Enjoy the muffins on their own, or serve them with orange marmalade or apricot preserves.
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